Sussex Academy unable to overcome errors against Lake Forest

If the Sussex Academy softball team could take away the top half of the second inning in their April 4 game against Lake Forest, they would have tied, in the bottom half of the seventh, a Spartans squad that beat them 10-0 in five innings last year.

“I'm just as pleased as I can be with a loss,” Seahawks coach Gerald Jester said, “We put bats on the ball today – something we didn't do last game against a hard-throwing pitcher – and we worked real hard since the last game to speed our bats up.”

Jester was happy with his team’s approach at the plate, but an ill-fated second inning spelled doom for the Seahawks' defense.

“We had one inning that we just didn't make the plays,” Jester said. “There were balls in the infield; we didn't make the plays. I won't say they're all errors. They were just those balls that got deep into the five- and six-hole. Take that one inning away, and it's a 3-3 ballgame.”

Lake Forest plated four runners in the top of the second to get the scoring started for both teams. The Spartans capitalized on a couple of mistakes and miscommunications from the Seahawks, and used savvy base running to jump out to a 4-0 lead. To Sussex Academy’s credit, the girls bounced back to score one in the bottom half. Centerfielder Ryan Lowe laced a ball down the first baseline and immediately began kicking up dirt to easily slide into third with a triple. She eventually scored on an infield hit by beating the throw and tag at home.

“Our motto is just next pitch,” Jester said. “Play the next pitch; don't try to make it bigger than it is. You can't do anything about what's happened. The only thing you can do anything about is what's going to happen.”

A skilled Lake Forest roster plated three more runs in the top of the fourth to take a commanding 7-1 lead over Sussex Academy. Lowe decided one triple wasn’t enough and not only repeated the triple-bagger, but crossed the plate for the second time to make it 7-2. 

In the fifth, Eva Boos came on as a defensive replacement at first base for starter Rogue Garcia. In her first at-bat, Boos smoked a worm burner into left field and hustled her way into second to give the home team a boost. In the next inning, as the rain poured down, third baseman Sophia Bowen decided to visit her defensive positioning on a shot to right to give the Seahawks their third triple of the contest. Unfortunately, neither Boos nor Bowen was driven home.

Sussex Academy attempted to mount a rally in the seventh when Grayce Glover navigated the base paths before scoring on a passed ball. Lake Forest clamped down after the run to get out of Georgetown with a 7-3 win.